Part of the charm of living back in Boston's South End is how old the buildings are in the neighborhood. The row house I live is over a 100 years old. And in some ways, it really shows.

I live on the prettiest street in the South End (in my opinion), Union Park. All of the houses here are old. Many have been renovated in recent years, including the one in which I dwell. But the one thing that throws me every day and shows the age of this place are the floors.

They undulate.

No... Really. You can visibly see it! Notice how the floors pull away from the trim at the bottom of the walls...

And when I sit in my office chair, I'll occasionally roll backwards with no effort - if I take my feet off the floor.

The building (made up of four condos) is wonky. When you walk up the stairs you can see them slanting to the right. My husband fears that the building isn't done settling.

"But people have bought places in this building in recent years - even last year!" I tell him. "They would have had to bring in an engineer to inspect the place before purchasing. And the most recent purchase was by an architect. He wouldn't have bought it if he thought the place was going to collapse."

My reasoning alleviates his fear. But he would never allow me to purchase a place in the building.